Other related techniques

Besides the techniques we have covered so far, numerous other problem-solving and optimization techniques draw their inspiration from the Darwinian evolution theory, as well as from various biological systems and behaviors. The following subsections briefly describe several more of these techniques.

Evolution strategies

Evolution strategies (ES) are a kind of genetic algorithm that emphasizes mutation rather than crossover as the evolutionary facilitator. The mutation is adaptive, and its strength is learned over the generations. The selection operator in ES is always based on rank rather than on actual fitness values. A simple version of this technique is called (1 + 1). It includes only two individuals – a parent and its mutated offspring. The best of them continue to be the parent of the next mutated offspring. In the more general case, called (1 + λ), there is one parent and λ mutated offspring, and the best of the offspring continues...